I was doing some theory crafting this morning and stumbled on a combo for low PS, R3 carrying, T-70 X-wings that might almost be worth trying.

R3 Astro and Snap Shot, with or without Comm Relay.

The combo allows you (if you can successfully use rule of 11) to use any focus rolled on the snap-shot attack to grab an evade. If you take a focus you then have either a defensive or offensive mod + evade for the combat phase.

30pts Red Vet (26)

R3 Astro (2)

Snap Shot (2)

or

33pts Red Vet (26)

R3 Astro (2)

Snap Shot (2)

Comm Relay (3)

These guys make tanky ace blockers with a bit of bite. Not meta warping but reasonably solid.

R3 is Primary Attack only.

R3, still just as bad (if not worse) on low ps xwings (or anything, really)

R3 doesn't work on snapshot, as snapshot is not a primary weapon attack. Almost every clever use you can find for R3 is shut down because of all of the various limitations on the card.

Ahhh poop!

It's a shame, I really wanted this droid to work. Some consistent damage mitigation would have helped a lot of rebel fighters.But with all of the the prerequisite dice and corresponding loss of damage, R3s just seem like another R5-K6. Not good enough to be worth the cost.

I've only found one good combo with R3

Etahn A'baht (32)

Juke (2)

Accuracy Corrector (3)

R3 Astromech (2)

Total: 39

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

As long as your 3 dice roll at least 1 eyeball, you can cancel it, get the evade, cancel your other 2 dice- if needed- turn them into hits, then use Juke when your opponent rolls to force them to turn a hit into an eyeball.

I'm not if it's the best use of 40 points, but the combo itself is solid.

R3 is a waste of time. No matter what you pair him with you basically give yourself-1atk. His bonus is not at all worth it. Maybe if he let you keep the evade token after the round if not spent. As is he just takes up a valuable slot.

R3 is Primary Attack only.

It seems like every time somebody finds a way to maybe make R3 useful it gets shut down by that whole "primary attack" thing. I wonder what could've been done to at least give it a chance, hmmm...

R3 ain't great, but you can make it work. Just don't rely entirely on it!

Red ORS:

Outer Rim Smuggler w/ Jan Ors, Leebo, Snuggle Compartment, BMST & APL = 34

2 Red vets w/ Juke, R3 astros, integrated & Comm relay = 33 x 2

100

If nothing else, the list has a double entendre in the name (hopefully I don't have to spell it out!). That makes it EVEN better than it looks!

its funny. Literally every time i see an "R3 is not so bad" or "I found a way to use R3!" thread, 2-4 people immediately go "primary weapon only" and it falls apart.

R3 is hot garbage. There are so many ways you could make him infinitely better (any attack, comm relay effect, 1pt, roll 1 less attack die instead of harvesting a focus, list goes on) and even though these ways would still put him as an inferior droid to just about all of the others, he wouldnt be trash. Right now i'd take the facedown damage card removal droid over him, and that guy never works lol

R3 is good in HotAC, all the tie fighters are lower than you and if you have a big group the regen droids are unique so not everyone can have one.

As a guy who both likes X-wings (both) and low/mid PS generic squads I want to make R3 useful. Very tough (maybe impossible) to do. If he was 1pt. instead of 2 I think it would make up quite a bit.

On the other end of the spectrum R3 does work well with Poe but Poe doesn't need a generic droid and I almost always have regen on him.

"Snuggle Compartment"..?

As a guy who both likes X-wings (both) and low/mid PS generic squads I want to make R3 useful. Very tough (maybe impossible) to do. If he was 1pt. instead of 2 I think it would make up quite a bit.

there are a LOT of things that would make r3 quite useful, because there are a LOT of things wrong with it

the crap thrown at r3 isn't due to any one thing but rather the extensive list of hoops you gotta jump through for a simple evade token that actually does something:

1.) you need to attack

2.) you need to attack with a primary weapon

3.) you need to roll a focus result

4.) you need to cancel said result (instead of using it)

5.) you need to have shot before getting shot or the evade token does jack ****

you remove any one of these unnecessary hoops and r3 becomes not nearly as **** (though probably still bad)

it could've been a dropped red die for an evade token at the beginning of combat

it could've allowed TLT synergy

it could've not been random

it could've dodged the ps issue by allowing shield regeneration instead of an evade token

but for whatever reason, r3 got visited by the "**** you" fairy

i.e the polar opposite of whichever fairy blessed the inquisitor and the jumpmaster

"Snuggle Compartment"..?

Yeah, a cozy part of the ship for Jan, leebo and their 'slicer tools'

Just played a game on VASSAl with the Red ORS, and won! Although R3's did nothing, but then again, everything else was working right, so I can't complain...

Snuggle compartment is so dirty, maybe just because I want it to be.

As a guy who both likes X-wings (both) and low/mid PS generic squads I want to make R3 useful. Very tough (maybe impossible) to do. If he was 1pt. instead of 2 I think it would make up quite a bit.

there are a LOT of things that would make r3 quite useful, because there are a LOT of things wrong with it

the crap thrown at r3 isn't due to any one thing but rather the extensive list of hoops you gotta jump through for a simple evade token that actually does something:

1.) you need to attack

2.) you need to attack with a primary weapon

3.) you need to roll a focus result

4.) you need to cancel said result (instead of using it)

5.) you need to have shot before getting shot or the evade token does jack ****

you remove any one of these unnecessary hoops and r3 becomes not nearly as **** (though probably still bad)

it could've been a dropped red die for an evade token at the beginning of combat

it could've allowed TLT synergy

it could've not been random

it could've dodged the ps issue by allowing shield regeneration instead of an evade token

but for whatever reason, r3 got visited by the "**** you" fairy

i.e the polar opposite of whichever fairy blessed the inquisitor and the jumpmaster

I like all those podcasts where they interview Alex Davy, because his is a quite talkative guy and transpires much of how they face game design in the game.

One of his comments in a recent podcast was the way they usually balance upgrades or pilots.

First they make it clearly overpowered, because when something is clearly overpowered is shows during playtest more glaringly than when something is underpowered. When they find something overpowered, then they neuter it a little bit and playtest again. And they repeat the cycle until it doesn't feel overpowered anymore, or the design just doesn't work and they need to try some other approach.

I guess R3 Astromech went thru a lot of these cycles, because every condition and requirement listed on the card seems so artificial and deprived of lore-logic that nobody could have come up with this droid in its current state as a first design. It feels like a "let's do an astromech that gives evade tokens" idea, that was put patch after patch on top of with requirements and conditions until they made sure it didn't break anything.

Now, I wonder what would get broken if we removed each of those layers of requirements, one after another. Would regen ships, or Biggs, become monstruous with a primitive version of R3?

Sort of like practicing paleontology on a long buried monster of ages past, waiting underground while we brush the dirt of balancing off its old body. Digging to deep and to greedy.

What was the primigenial R3 Astromech and why did the designers feel the need to bury it so deep?

So an R3 Astromech that does "Add the Evade icon to your action bar". Is that the monster they were trying to keep tied? What would that break?

Quite frankly even a straight up 2pt astromech that "adds evade to your bar" wouldnt be broken.

why?

it still takes an action. And aside from T70s who can use Comm Relay, it wouldnt really be that great. Problem there is T70s are really terrible if they dont abuse some odd mechanic the mech gives them and they wouldnt have both.

Actionless evades are an issue and im glad they didnt just flatout give any astromech user a free evade. An inverted x7 would have complimented the ARC beautifully (2pts, after you execute a 1 or 2 speed maneuver, assign 1 evade token to your ship). Prevents you from getting a guaranteed evade unless you slug it, so no rocketing away to range3 + evade for you.

I think this is the 3rd or 4th thread I've seen where somebody has tried to create a way for R3 not to be a festering pile of garbage... only to find out that their combo won't work due to a limitation to the card. It really is just that bad, folks!

I think this is the 3rd or 4th thread I've seen where somebody has tried to create a way for R3 not to be a festering pile of garbage... only to find out that their combo won't work due to a limitation to the card. It really is just that bad, folks!

I mean, I don't blame them for trying

after all, there are too many restrictions on the **** thing to possibly remember

I can almost guarantee that Biggs is the reason R3 sucks. He's a huge obstacle for Rebel ship and upgrade design.

I can almost guarantee that Biggs is the reason R3 sucks. He's a huge obstacle for Rebel ship and upgrade design.

Biggs has literally been around since the core set

so unless everything rebels have gotten is ass, I don't think this really qualifies as an excuse

and considering r2-d2, r3-a2, r4-d6 and r5-p9 (on poe), not to mention even potentially game-breaking synergy ala Kanan supporting biggs with his red-dice removing ability (on top of stuff like ors crew giving Biggs evades, soon to be potentially comboed with Jyn)...

yeah no. FFG just royally screwed the pooch on this one

I like how we get (2) R3's to make us think it's a bargain.

It would be fine if it was the 0 point droid rebels need. So many hoops and randomness that paying points for it makes no sense. Especially because every droid carrying ship is over-costed. A free terrible non-unique droid to combine with free integrated astromech is exactly what T-65s, T-70s, and E-wing generics need.